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By: JOHNNY HOOKS COMMENTS
 
At the beginning of Christopher Rice’s new novel, “Light Before Day,” a crystal meth lab tucked inside a filthy doublewide trailer in Northern California explodes in a ball of fire. A teacher searching for her student is killed.
The action jumps to the West Hollywood area of Los Angeles, where we are introduced to Adam Murphy, a boozy writer for Glitz magazine who gets fired over a story about a marine helicopter pilot who flew his aircraft into the Pacific.
Murphy is in love with Corey, who disappears and is thought to be a victim of the West Hollywood Slasher. After landing a job with mystery writer James Wilton, Murphy and Wilton search for answers. The search leads them to drug dealers, a meth assassin, pedophiles and hustlers, all ending in a hail of bullets.
“Light Before Day” is a novel that is lightning fast and in your face with its honest take on the seedy side of gay culture in Los Angeles. As with the first two Rice novels, the author weaves seemingly unrelated people and places with surreal events to create a terrifically rich tapestry.
Rice drops few clues along the way until a gasp-inducing moment when all aspects of the story become clear. In this latest novel, Rice leaves behind the gothic tones of his two previous books, “A Density of Souls” and “The Snow Garden,” and commits himself to an out-and-out thriller.
Writing in first-person for the first time changes the narrative and the scope of his characters as well. The result is a deeper, better rounded and, ultimately, more enjoyable book on every level.
Fans of Rice’s first two books should find more to enjoy here. Newcomers and those who didn’t get the author’s work before this project should give “Light Before Day” a try to see for themselves how Rice’s own life lessons have changed him and his work for the better.
Rice is scheduled to read from his new book in Washington, D.C., at Olsson’s Books & Records on Thursday, March 24.
CHRISTOPHER RICE: West Hollywood.
RICE: That’s him; he’s wonderful. We’ve lived together for two years and been together for three. The first year was long distance. That was brutal.
RICE: It was a combination of circumstances. He was ready to leave New York, having lived there almost his whole life. I said ‘I’m not leaving LA; I just got here.’ It helps. I really like him, and he really likes me. I knew I had found the perfect Jewish husband.
RICE: Not anymore; I’ve changed my wild ways.
RICE: Pretty much, yeah.
RICE: I experienced a lot of things at once that forced me to grow up. My father became gravely ill and eventually died. I met someone who, for all intents and purposes, I married. Life was happening. Life happened. It was like I woke up. I settled down, stopped the partying, I had been hard drinking since I was 16. One day I realized I have a really fabulous life and I needed to actually live it rather than avoid it. It had a profound effect on everything.
RICE: I was supposed to write a different novel, the sequel to “The Snow Garden.”
RICE: Ultimately, I’m so glad I didn’t. I’m glad I’m not locked into characters I created four years ago; my life is so different now. Some writers like it. They can lock into a long series about one character spanning many novels. There is a certain sense of security in that. I do want to bring Adam and Jimmy back from “Light.” It’ll depend on the public’s reaction.
RICE: I had written this short story for Genre magazine; I was ...
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